A former Soviet republic, Azerbaijan first entered international competition in the EURO '96 qualifiers. They finished bottom of their group in that campaign and five of their next six attempts to reach a major tournament. Indeed, Azerbaijan failed to finish outside the bottom two until the qualification series for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, when, in ex-Germany player and coach Berti Vogts' third campaign in charge, they ended fourth in a six-team group – albeit with just one win in their ten matches, 2-0 at home to Northern Ireland. Their history has nevertheless been punctuated with a number of notable victories, notably against Switzerland and Turkey.

Azerbaijan came of age as an independent nation when they held Poland to a goalless draw during EURO '96 qualification, where they lost nine of ten fixtures. In each of the next three campaigns the team recorded one win, the most famous against Serbia in 2003.

However, in UEFA EURO 2012, Azerbaijan accumulated a record-high seven points from ten games, the highlight a stunning 1-0 victory over Turkey. Vogts' side also claimed a 1-1 draw with Belgium and flexed their goalscoring muscles in a 3-2 defeat of Kazakhstan, though they failed to pick up a point on their travels.

Did you know?Andre Ladaga's goal 16 minutes into Azerbaijan's 1-1 draw with Kazakhstan in their second UEFA EURO 2008 qualifier ended the team's scoring drought that had lasted for 951 minutes of competitive football.

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